


Adulthood

by goeskaboom



Category: Super Gals! Kotobuki Ran
Genre: Divorce, Family Drama, Gen, Kindergarten, Police
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-13
Updated: 2013-08-24
Packaged: 2017-12-11 18:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/802025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goeskaboom/pseuds/goeskaboom
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Follows manga storyline- NOT the anime </p>
<p>Ten years after the conclusion of the series, everyone seems to have their own lives, families, and careers, but not everything is as perfect as it seems on the surface. One former Gal is facing her midlife crisis. Another, facing down her infertility. The other, in the middle of a messy divorce. As tensions grow and the cracks begin to show, various relationships begin to fall apart, until a serious crime is brought to light. Everyone will have to work together to pull through and work together in order to help fix the problem, but will it end up working out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Miyu 1**

Every morning was more or less the same. But Miyu didn't mind- she enjoyed the routine. Every morning, at exactly 6:00, the alarm on her cell phone would wake her. She would slip into the kitchen and set up the rice cooker, letting it cook while she jumped in the shower. She would then get dressed and do her makeup, then she would go back into the kitchen and make both her lunch, as well as Yamato's. Then, while she waited for Yamato to come downstairs, she would boot up her computer and read the morning news online. At exactly 7:30, Yamato would come pick up his lunch and kiss his wife goodbye, then both he and Miyu would head off to their respective jobs. Yamato would head to the Shibuya police box, and Miyu would hurry off to the kindergarten she taught at.

It had been that way for ten years, since their marriage, with the occasional break in routine. When Ran found out she was expecting her children, on both occasions, she had set up camp in her brother's kitchen and wolfed down all of the food he had in the apartment. Two years after the birth of Ran's second child, Sayo had repeated the pattern, barging in and snarfing down all the food Miyu had made for Yamato, hollering out something about her own pregnancy. At the time, Miyu had been a bit irritated, but she loved her nephews and niece enough that she didn't mind. Sometimes, on holidays, the whole family would gather together, either in Miyu and Yamato's apartment, or in Ran and Tatsuki's house, just to have fun.

Ten whole years had gone by, and Miyu had watched from the periphery as her family and friends all had their own families. Ran and Tatsuki had their daughter, Koboshi, and their son, Shigeo. Sayo and Masato had their son Kippei. Aya and Rei had their daughter, Mikiyo, who was now in Miyu's kindergarten class. Number Two and Mami had their son, Yuji, who was also now in Miyu's kindergarten class. Everyone around her seemed to be having kids and growing their family.

Everyone except Miyu.

She did not know why.

She and Yamato had tried so hard. Both of them wanted to have children of their own so badly. But something wasn't lining up correctly- maybe Miyu was barren, or maybe Yamato was shooting blanks, but no matter how hard they tried, Miyu had never been able to conceive. And so, watching as all of her friends had children, Miyu tried so very hard not to resent them. After all, she was a kindergarten teacher. She had so many children she saw day in, day out, and even some of them were her friends' children. She wanted to be the best teacher she could for them, and in that she succeeded, but in some ways, she felt a bit inadequate. If _Ran_ could be a mother, why couldn't she? It just wasn't fair.

And so, on that morning, when Miyu came downstairs to see Ran sitting at her table, just like she had the previous two times, she couldn't help but spit out a sarcastic quip. "Let me guess- you're pregnant again."

"Yes! How did you know?" Ran replied, cheerfully oblivious to her sister-in-law's irritation.

"Just a lucky guess..." Miyu sighed. "You and Tatsuki _do_ know where babies come from, right? If you're not careful you're going to end up like that crazy American lady on television with nineteen kids."

"Nah, we're not that far gone yet," Ran barreled on obliviously. "But Tatsukichi and I always wanted a big family- maybe we'll try for two boys and two girls!"

"Good luck with that," Miyu said. "Anyway, is there something you needed? Or are you just here to eat all my food again?" This time, Ran picked up that something was wrong.

"Is everything okay, Miyu? You're not acting like yourself. Are you sick?"

"No, I'm not sick."

"Are you sure?"

"Look, Ran, will you just go to work already? Or do whatever it is you do when you're NOT at work? Wait- where's Yamato's lunch?" Miyu interrupted herself, noticing that the bento box she'd left on the counter, with the food she had lovingly prepared for her husband, was no longer on the counter. She looked over at her sister-in-law, and Ran tried to look innocent. However, the other woman couldn't hold back the loud, obnoxious burp that emanated from her. At the furious expression on Miyu's face, she tried to pass it off as harmless.

"Uh... thanks for the food?"

"GET OUT!"

* * *

After chasing down Ran and making her apologize and promise that she would never, ever do it again (although Miyu knew it was probably only a matter of weeks before Ran showed up again and ate anything and everything she could find), Miyu managed to congratulate her sister-in-law on her good news. "Do you know if it's going to be a boy or a girl?"

"I only found out this morning, it's too early to tell!" Ran replied. "You're the first person I told! Tatsukichi was out on night duty last night and he fell asleep on the sofa. I didn't want to wake him up, but I wanted to tell someone! So… you! I'm going to call Aya later and tell her the good news too! Although I don't want to tell the kids yet, it's too early and I don't think they're old enough to really understand. Seriously though, Miyu, I'm so happy. Tatsukichi and I always wanted a big family. We love kids. Oh, by the way, do you mind watching Koboshi and Shigeo on Saturday? Tatsukichi has to work in the daytime, and I'm going for a checkup. Mom and Dad are still on vacation, so I can't leave the kids with them."

"Fine," Miyu finally agreed, mostly just to get Ran out of her hair.

"Excellent! Anyway, see you later, I've gotta jet! Have a good day at work, and tell my brother I said I'm sorry for eating his lunch. I'll make it up to him later, I promise. Bye!"

Once Ran was safely out of the apartment, Miyu sat down heavily on the couch. Again. Ran was pregnant _again._ With her _third_ baby. Miyu had mostly been sarcastic when she'd made that quip about the crazy American family she'd seen on television, but now she was beginning to wonder. Why was it that some women could have baby after baby after baby, while she couldn't even get pregnant _once?_ Sighing, she decided to leave her own lunch for Yamato, then hurried out the door to get to work. She would pick up some rice balls or something on the way. Stupid Ran, throwing off her morning routine. Ran always just stomped around without a care in the world, not mattering to her what went down or whose way she got in. Granted, becoming a police officer had helped her a bit with that, but nowhere near enough. She was still the same carefree, happy-go-lucky goofball Miyu had met in middle school, only now with more responsibilities.

And honestly, that kind of scared her.


	2. Ran 1

"Mama, mama, look what I made today!"

"Mama, Beppu-sensei says you have to come to a parent-teacher conference on the school holiday next week! And it's not because I got in trouble again, everyone has to have one!"

"Ran, Chief Kakunaka needs you to cover for Obata tomorrow, seems his mom's in the hospital up in Akita and he's going to make sure everything's alright with her, since his dad died two years ago. Looks like he's in charge of her estate now."

"Mama! I want to show you something!"

"Kuroi-san, your cat got into my yard again! If I see the damn thing out again I swear I'm gonna grill it up for dinner!"

"Look, Ran, I hate to ask you to do this, I know you're really busy, but can you watch Mikiyo for me? I haven't seen Rei in days, and I obviously can't take her to work with me- Miyu's kindergarten is closing for the principal's birthday next Tuesday."

"Hiya Sis! How's it going? Hey, can I ask you for a favor? Masato wrecked the car last week, and I need someone to drive me over to the repair shop to pick it up today."

Around and around their voices went, echoing in Kuroi Ran's head. Her children, her husband, her sister, her neighbor, Aya... and hundreds, hundreds more. All the time, someone was asking her for something. Always, always someone needed something from her. She hadn't had a free moment with her husband in weeks, except for that one night they spent together, finally their shifts at the police box working out so that neither one of them was working the night shift. She hadn't heard from her friends in ages, except for that one shoplifting incident at the store Mami worked at. All she ever did at work was arrest shoplifters and write traffic tickets. Occasionally she would help give directions to someone, and at least once a year she would go to Miyu's kindergarten to give a lecture on safety to the children, but other than that, her routine was monotonous, dull... lifeless.

It didn't really help that her children were so young... Koboshi was almost seven now, but seven wasn't old enough to do much of anything on her own. Shigeo was three now, and was beginning to show signs of separation anxiety, even though he never had before. All of a sudden he would cling to Ran's leg, complaining and crying whenever she tried to drop him off at the day-care center. He was suddenly terrified of everything, too- whether it was Leon, their (=admittedly very grouchy) pet cat, Pochi, the neighbor's cowardly Shiba Inu, the television set, the remote control, Ran's phone, Koboshi's favorite stuffed toy, Tatsuki's video games... he was utterly terrified of everything, and nothing Ran or Tatsuki could say would get him to open up about what was frightening him so much. Aya had suggested taking him to see a psychologist, but both Ran and Tatsuki had been against it. There was nothing wrong with Shigeo, he was just going through a phase. Besides, Ran had argued, if Shigeo was already so scared of everything, how would a psychologist be any different?

Koboshi was constantly getting in trouble, too. Before becoming a mother, Ran had never before considered how much trouble she must have put her parents through, but after Koboshi's latest escapade at school, Ran suddenly felt like calling her parents (not to mention Nakanishi-sensei) to apologize for all of the trouble she'd caused. This upcoming conference would be the third one this year with Koboshi's second-grade teacher, and the first one that hadn't been called because of her daughter's behavior.

To top it all off, her period was late.

Ran sighed, slumping down on the couch and clicking on the television, flipping through some channels before finally shutting the set off- of course, there was never anything worth watching on. Groaning, she shuffled off to the bathroom, deciding she might as well just get it over with- she'd bought a pregnancy test the day before, thinking she might have gotten her cycle by now, but it hadn't shown up, so she might as well check. IF it was negative, fine, if it wasn't, that was fine too. She and Tatsuki did want a large family... she just thought maybe it would have been better to wait until Shigeo was five or six. Having so many small children around was taking a toll. Ran felt like she was running around at mach speed, just trying to keep up with her energetic daughter, her scaredy-cat of a son, and her job.

Stopping in the bathroom, she glanced in the mirror. She looked old- so damn old, and she was only twenty-eight. As a teenager, her mother had warned her that using so much makeup would age her prematurely. Ran had, at the time, laughed it off as a pathetically transparent attempt by her mother to get her to give up being a kogal, but now she wondered if there had been some truth to that. Fine lines around her eyes were becoming less and less fine as time went by, and her eyes seemed to get droopier by the day.

A few minutes later, Ran had the answer to her question: without a doubt, she was pregnant again.

Wonder if it will be a boy or a girl? Maybe another daughter would be nice...

Tatsuki wasn't home yet, and when he did come home, Ran knew he was going to crash. He wouldn't be in any position to actually understand anything she said to him, so telling him right away was out of the question. The kids were too young to understand, and anyway, it was too early to tell them that they'd be getting a sibling anyway. Trying to explain a miscarriage, if something happened, would be much more difficult than trying to explain a sibling in the first place. But Ran wanted to tell someone right away.

Sayo? No, she was working with Tatsuki and would be just as exhausted.

Naoki? No, he was on that business trip in- Russia, was it?

Aya? Aya hadn't answered her phone in weeks, Ran snorted.

Miyu was the only option. Smirking to herself and grabbing her handbag, Ran decided it was time to pay Miyu a visit. It was still early- with any luck, she'd be able to snag some of that great food her brother always got to eat!

On her way out, she passed an exhausted Tatsuki sprawled out on the sofa. She must have not heard him coming in. Deciding that she would deal with him later, she just left a note asking her husband to take care of getting Koboshi to school and Shigeo to daycare, since she would end up going directly to work from Miyu's.

Maybe this day wasn't going to be more of the same after all.


	3. Aya 1

In retrospect, marrying Rei had been the stupidest decision she'd ever made.

Aya snorted sardonically to herself. That was the understatement of the millennium. Rei hated her now, he'd made that very clear with the last fight, where he'd screamed at her and told her that he was leaving her, and by the way, he'd been fucking his secretary on the side for the past six years. He hadn't been home in two weeks, and Mikiyo, their five-year-old daughter (and wasn't that just a slap in the face, to think that the little girl had been conceived while Rei was in the middle of an affair), was starting to get suspicious, asking questions that Aya wasn't really sure she knew the answers to. "But _why_ isn't Daddy coming home tonight? Why do I have to wait until the weekend to see him?"

"Miki-chan, your father is a very busy man," had become Aya's stock response to the incessant questions. "He has to stay at work so that he can finish everything he needs to."

"Well, that's dumb," was the usual response from the little girl, but she usually seemed to accept it. At least, she accepted it until that morning.

"Mama, are you and Daddy going to get a dee-vorce?"

Aya froze. "What... what exactly do you mean?" she asked.

Mikiyo shrugged. "It's just that Kazue-chan said that her daddy stopped coming home every night, and her mama didn't want to talk about it anymore, and then a few months later her parents got a dee-vorce, and her mommy left their house. Then her daddy married again and she got a new mama who's really young and pretty!." Aya winced. She'd completely forgotten about that. Miyu had warned her a few months ago that the family of one of the children in Mikiyo's class was going through some serious upheavals. Miyu had a bit more information on the situation than apparently the little girl knew- the mother had apparently been stealing money from the father and using it to give to her lover- apparently drugs were involved, but no one was stupid enough to tell the child that. The girl's father had remarried, and she had been so proud, going to kindergarten and telling all of her little friends about her pretty new mommy who bought her expensive presents and cooked so much better than her real mommy did. Aya had thought that maybe Mikiyo hadn't picked up on any of that, considering that her own daughter had never mentioned it at home, but apparently she hadn't blocked it all out completely.

But it was Mikiyo's next statement that practically sent knives into Aya's abdomen. "Am I gonna get a new mama too?"

"No," Aya replied, somewhat more forcefully than she had originally intended. "No, Mikiyo, you're not going to get another mother. I will _always_ be your mother, and I love you. Remember that, alright?"

Mikiyo didn't look entirely convinced, but eventually just shrugged it off. "Alright," she agreed, easily enough.

"Now come on, you're going to be late for kindergarten. You don't want to get in trouble with Kotobuki-sensei, now do you?" Mikiyo giggled, scrunching up her nose.

"Mama, you don't get in trouble with Kotobuki-sensei unless you do something _really bad!_ " Aya gave her daughter a mock stern look.

"Being late for class is _really bad_ ," she replied seriously, mimicking her daughter's emphatic inflection. "Go get your shoes on, we'll leave in five minutes."

* * *

"Ugh, can you believe the _nerve_ of that woman? Bringing that child to school as though she was _actually_ the mother!"

"Ah, well, you cannot blame Inuzuka-san too much. After his whore of an ex-wife, anyone would have looked like a good mother."

"Yes, but really? What their neighbors must think! And what kind of influence is that woman having on the child? I am almost to the point where I want to tell my Sadao to stay away from the Inuzuka girl! Imagine what she is telling the other children!"

"Aah, now, Kawamura-san, they are just children. I doubt that Inuzuka is telling his daughter all of the details about the split- she is only five. It's likely that she's just excited to have a new adult around her house to play with her. It probably hasn't really sunk in yet, that she's likely never going to see her mother again."

"Ah! Otohata-san, it is good to see you! I was wondering if you were showing up, it's a little later than you normally get here! Is Mikiyo-chan alright? Tamotsu had the flu last week, I hope he didn't give it to Mikiyo-chan!"

Aya forced a smile as the ringleader of the group of gossiping women, Mikimoto Rika, dragged her into the conversation. Mikimoto really was the last person she wanted to talk to at the moment, especially given what she'd just overheard. The woman was a relentless gossip and more stubborn than a dog with a bone when she wanted to get information. Really, she hadn't changed much from high school, when Aya had known her as "Rika-pe," with the exception of now that she was married, she used her change in status to give herself a veneer of respectability. At least she didn't have her two tanned flunkies hanging around her all the time anymore.

"Oh, no, Mikiyo got her flu shot this year," she replied politely. "I do hope Tamotsu-kun is feeling better now?"

"Yes, of course! Do you really think I would send my son to school if he was still sick?" There was a bit of bite behind the other woman's words, and Aya knew she had somehow crossed a line. What that line exactly was, however, was anyone's guess. Maybe Mikimoto thought that Aya was accusing her of not caring about her son?

"Oh my, no, not at all, Mikimoto-san," Aya replied politely. "Kids do sometimes bounce back quickly then get sick again, though. I know last year Mikiyo got food poisoning, and she was doing so much better after two days, that I thought it would be alright to have her go to play with her friend. Mikiyo was so excited, too, that even if she had been feeling ill that day she would have hid it. Well, most of the day went fine, until I went to pick her up. Apparently she relapsed, and she was sick all over the car." Mikimoto looked somewhat mollified, but she still delicately turned up her nose with a vague air of superiority.

"Well, you will just need to be more careful in the future, then, won't you?"

"Yes, of course," Aya replied, her smile becoming a bit fixed. Damn it, why was she letting Mikimoto get to her? It wasn't as though the other woman knew what was going on.

Suddenly, a loud little boy's voice interrupted the gathering of mothers. "But MOM! I don't WANT to go to school today! Purple Panther X is on today!"

Equally loudly, an adult woman retorted, "Oh, shut up, Yuji. You know Kuroi-san will have recorded it! I'll call her and see if I can get a copy of it. Now let go of me and stop complaining! I'm going to be late for work!"

"I DON'T WANT TO!"

"Well, tough! Get off!"

"Looks like Aso-san is having trouble with her son as usual," one of the mothers said, sniffing. "Really, that woman needs to learn to discipline him better."

"You cannot blame the kid, Kawamura-san, look at what he has for a mother!"

Aya winced. It seemed like every morning, this same incident happened: Mami would show up at school with her son, Yuji. Yuji would belligerently complain about being made to attend school. Mami would, equally belligerently, frog-march the child into the classroom and make him sit down, before hurrying off to get to her job, at a clothing store in Ikebukuro's Sunshine City shopping mall. Yuji was a good kid, but he'd inherited his mother's stubbornness, without a doubt.

"Oh! Hi, Otohata-san! Is Miki-chan here?" Yuji had noticed Aya and came tromping over to see her. Aya smiled. Yuji really was a funny little boy, even if he was a bit headstrong.

"Yes, she is, Yuji-kun. She is already sitting down. Why don't you go say hello to her? She will be happy to see you. And I heard you say something about Purple Panther X?"

"YEAH!" Yuji cheered.

"Well, ask Mikiyo to show you her new coloring book. Officer Ran gave it to her for her birthday, I'm sure she would be glad to show it to you."

"ALRIGHT! AWESOME!" the little boy yelled. "I didn't know Miki-chan liked Purple Panther X?"

"Oh, yes, she does," Aya tried not to laugh. If there was one thing that Ran had managed to pass onto her children, and her friends' children, it was her love of the Purple Panther X franchise. Cheering, Yuji stomped off, humming the theme song to the show. Momentarily, Mami sidled up to her friend, sighing.

"Yuya was watching television last night, and a commercial for today's special PPX marathon came on. He hasn't shut up about anything else since he saw that commercial, and he threw a fit when I made him come to school today. Thanks for distracting him."

"Oh, it's no trouble," Aya replied. "Mikiyo gets like that sometimes too, and I wish someone was there to get her mind off of it." Mami laughed, then immediately sobered, dropping her voice so that Aya could barely hear here.

"Actually, my shift doesn't start for another four hours. Why don't we go to the coffee shop? There's… something I need to talk to you about. About your… well, you know."

It didn't take a genius to figure out what Mami was talking about, and Aya felt her stomach sink like a lead balloon. What else could the other woman be talking about? Mami's husband was her husband's best friend, and it was likely that she'd seen something that Rei would prefer to keep from her. "I… I guess, that's fine. Which coffee shop were you talking about?"

"I was thinking the Tully's in Sunshine City, since it's close to the store," Mami replied. "Plus I get a discount. I'll buy your coffee."

Sunshine City was kind of out of her way, but Aya didn't have the energy to argue. Besides, free coffee was always a plus, and Tully's Maple Earl-Grey Danish was pretty tasty.

"Alright, let's go. We'll take my car, I guess."

To Be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, it's been way too long, but I actually was out of the country for two months. Actually, I was in Japan on a study abroad program, and I spent a week in Tokyo. Sunshine City in Ikebukuro is a real place: I stayed there. It's a bit dated, but it's very nice. The two shopping malls attached to it, Alpa and ALTA, are very interesting as well. I'd never seen most of the store they had there, we don't have equivalents in America.
> 
> I also went to Shibuya as well, although I didn't end up staying there too long. It was extremely hot and humid that day, it was pouring down rain, and I had bad jet lag. I did go check out Shibuya 109 and Bunkamura though. It was a great trip, I'd love to go back someday. Although considering this last trip basically took all the money I had, it's probably going to be a while, unless I can secure a $30,000 contract for work or something. Oh well.


	4. Miyu 2

"BWAHAHAHAHA! Miki-chan and Yuji-kun, sittin' in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Ooooh, you're sharing a coloring book! You're gonna get married!"

"They can't get married, poo-brain, they're five!"

"YOU'RE five, doofus!"

"Don't call me a doofus, doofus!"

"You're both doofuses!"

Miyu knew she should probably intervene before Mikiyo started crying and Yuji punched Inuzuka Kazue in the face, but it really was hilarious to hear the five-year-olds fight with each other. So unlike their grown-up counterparts, the worst thing they'd do was call each other childish names and maybe have a fistfight. The next day they'd be best friends again. Not for the first time, Miyu wished that adults were more like the children she taught- things would be so less complicated.

"I am not gonna marry Miki-chan! I'm gonna marry Vivian Lin! She's so pretty!"

"You're a double-doofus! Vivian Lin is already married!"

"So?"

"So a lady can't have two husbands!"

"Sez who?"

"Says the law!"

"Oh yeah? Since when are you a... law-person?"

"Come on, Sakurako-chan, everyone knows that you can't have two husbands!"

"Nuh-uh, my mom watches a television show all the time about an American guy with three wives! You can so have more than one husband!"

"Maybe you can have more than one wife, but you can't have more than one husband."

"That's dumb."

"YOU'RE dumb, doofus."

Miyu decided that was the time to intervene. "Enough! All of you, calm down! We are all friends here in this room, there's no reason to fight!"

The four kids looked at their teacher as though she was the biggest doofus out of all of them. Inuzuka Kazue especially looked skeptical. "Sensei, you might know! Can you have more than one husband or wife?"

"No, you cannot. It is against the law," Miyu chuckled. Atsuzawa Sakurako rolled her eyes.

"If it's against the law, why does that American guy my mom likes to watch have three wives?" she asked seriously. Miyu thought for a moment. Did Americans usually have more than one spouse? She didn't think so- as far as she knew polygamy was illegal in most developed countries. And what in the world was Atsuzawa talking about? If polygamy was illegal in America, which she was pretty sure it was, why was there a guy openly advertising it on television?

The answer dawned on her immediately. Of course, it must have been a fictional television show. "Sakurako-chan, do you like Purple Panther X?"

"Of course!" the little girl replied indignantly. "Who doesn't like Purple Panther X?"

"Do you believe that Purple Panther X is real?" Miyu asked. Sakurako frowned.

"No..." she replied hesitantly.

"Well, adults like stories that aren't real, too," Miyu explained. "The show your mother watches is probably a story, just like Purple Panther X. The American man with three wives isn't real- he's a fictional character, and so are his wives. It's a television drama that was translated into Japanese from America. There isn't a real man with more than one wife, do you understand?"

"Oh," Sakurako said, looking a bit disappointed. "I wanted to have ten husbands when I grew up."

Miyu bit back laughter. The other three children weren't as discreet, and all immediately laughed out loud. "Why would you wanna have ten husbands?" Aso Yuji asked. "My mom can barely stand my dad, and he's only one husband!"

Sakurako wasn't deterred, though. "Kazue-chan has two moms, though!"

"No I don't!" Kazue said indignantly. "I have a mama, and I have a step-mom. My step-mom isn't the same as my mama! Mama was the one who had me! My step-mom is just married to my dad!"

"Yeah? Welll, why is your dad married to both your mom and your step-mom?" Sakurako shot back.

"He's not married to my mama anymore! They got divorced!"

"Oh yeah."

"Now, what did I say?" Miyu interrupted, before the conversation could get any more complicated. "I'm going to read a story now, so everyone hurry over to the Story Rug!" The children did as instructed, and Miyu hurried over to the bookshelf, pretending to make a big deal out of choosing the book she would read to the kids that morning. She already knew which she would pick, of course, an American children's book about a family of bears that had been translated into Japanese, but it was part of the fun, making the kids think that she didn't know what she was going to read. Various kids called out their favorite titles, hoping that their teacher would choose it, and it always amused Miyu to hear what the kids wanted her to read. So far, her class's favorites included I am a Red Cat, The Grateful Statues, The Cat in the Hat, and Tamago-niichan. Hopefully the book she read today would join the ranks of the children's favorite stories.

She was so focused on getting to the Story Rug with the book that she didn't notice the little boy lurking in the background, listening to every word of the conversation she'd had with the other children, a strange, contemplative look on his face.

To Be Continued

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's kind of short, but this is really just a transition chapter. Now that the Gals' personal plotlines are explained, it's time to get into the main plot of this story, that connects everything together.
> 
> Kids are really hilarious sometimes. I have a rather large extended family, and if you ever overheard my godchildren and their cousins discussing things, you'd probably fall over laughing. I never though I would see the day that five-year-olds discussed the stock market, but apparently they do, if my family is anything to go by.


End file.
